Is the alliance chain really so fragrant? Either disappear, or become a "vassal" of the public chain

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it seems that there is only one “bitcoin halving” that the entire market is looking forward to.DeFiNo one cares about sharding anymore or various new technologies that can so-called improve TPS

consensus mechanism

, and few people care about new technologies and new projects, from institutions, to the media, to ordinary investors, it seems that only the halving of mining coins is left as a hot spot worthy of attention.

In addition to the halving, the ones that can barely be called hot spots have always seemed to be very popular, but in fact, there are not many real users for the time being., as a life-saving straw, if a blockchain project does not have a connection with Defi, you are embarrassed to say that you are engaged in blockchain.On the other side, the coinless alliance chain is ushering in a wave of upsurge as if it has ushered in spring.

The vernacular blockchain also published an article some time ago, "

Most public chains stay in the "air" stage. Is the alliance chain a big killer for landing applications?

》, which lists some application scenarios of the coinless alliance chain.

However, is this really the case in the long run?

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The so-called advantage is often a double-edged sword

As we all know, the alliance chain has many obvious advantages compared with the current public chain.

In terms of performance, the impossible triangle of the blockchain, after removing decentralization, the consortium chain can make rapid progress in scalability (performance). At the stage when the public chain has only a few hundred or at most thousands of TPS, Ant Gold The server has reached the level of 100,000 TPS.

In terms of security, because of its authorized access mechanism, the shortcomings of the barrel theory have been greatly improved, and the security of the alliance chain can be said to be much higher than most public chains.

Regardless of the technology, the alliance chain has already stepped into the stage of "landing application" in terms of application scenarios alone. Applications such as electronic invoices, logistics traceability, and credit reporting platforms have begun to take shape. On the other hand, on the public chain side, it seems that Only DeFi can barely handle it.

However, you can’t have all the good things in the world alone. These characteristics, while giving the alliance chain advantages, also give him almost irreparable hidden dangers and defects.

Many readers should know that in Jin Yong's "Swordsman", the Huashan sect that Linghu Chong belongs to is divided into Jianzong and Qizong. Hurry up. Everyone has practiced for ten years, and Jianzong must have the upper hand; each has practiced for twenty years, each is good at winning, and it is difficult to distinguish between top and bottom; after twenty years, the practice of Qizong Kung Fu will gradually become stronger and stronger ; in thirty years, those who practice sword sect kung fu will no longer be able to hold a candle to Qi sect."

When the blockchain is ten years old, it is not uncommon for the "Jianzong" alliance chain to overwhelm the "Qizong" public chain. In another 10 or 20 years, the shortcomings of the alliance chain may be exposed, and it may be replaced by the public chain at any time. Yiqi Juechen, far behind.

So, what are the disadvantages that make the author make such a judgment?

Disadvantages of alliance chain

and1. Technical fungibility - special databaseI have discussed with people who understand technology, can an alliance chain be replaced by a specially designed distributed database? The answer is that it cannot be completely replaced, but it can be approximated to a certain extent.

In traditional distributed databases, each node is trusted, and if one is hacked, the system basically collapses.

and

alliance chain

, whether there is Token or not, after all there are blocks and chains, data is packed into blocks, hashes are generated, and each block also stores the hash value of the previous block. In this way, the hash is formed into a chain, and any slight change at any position will cause a complete change in the hash value of the entire chain. This is also the technical means of implementing the core elements of the "non-tamperable" blockchain.

Can distributed databases achieve similar properties? Theoretically speaking, if all users only have "read" and "add" permissions, but no "delete" or modify permissions, then a distributed database is essentially what the alliance chain can do. Simulate it at the application layer , it should all work.

Of course, in reality, there will be no database designed like this. In any case, there will always be an ultimate super administrator account that can perform all operations on the database, and as long as such an account exists, it will be leaked or hacked. risks of.

Therefore, from a purely technical point of view, the alliance chain only has an important feature of "hashing into a chain and cannot be tampered with" compared to a distributed database, while other aspects are more expensive than the database system that has been used for decades. A lot of immaturity, so it is not yet known which is better.

2. Followers of technological progress, not leaders

In the past, a piece of software could be used for a long time, and the version might be upgraded once a year, but now it is patched every few days, and it has to be updated after use.smart contract，Layer 2，Fragmentation，Cross-chain，DeFiThe first few years of the blockchain were all a parody of Bitcoin, and now

Fragmentationconsensus mechanismCross-chain

... New concepts and new technologies come one after another. If you leave the circle for a few months, you may not understand what everyone is talking about when you come back.

And you will find a very important point, that is, all the concepts you can think of, whether it is POW, POS, etc.

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, or the technical concepts, usage scenarios, etc. mentioned just now are all derived from the public chain.

In other words, the public chain is the leader of the iteration that drives the "blockchain" technology and scenarios forward.

As an alliance chain, it is destined to only follow the public chain and "eat ashes". "Hey? I heard that you have invented a new technology? Then I'll wait. If it's useful, I'll see if it can be used..."

This kind of follow-up model may be feasible in the early stage. When the industry technology gradually matures, innovation develops like a blowout, or there are a large number of application scenarios that require tokens to be realized, can the coinless alliance chain still maintain today? status is hard to say.

Otherwise, why are developing countries, which have been good at learning and imitating Western technology for a long time, paying more and more attention to the ability of independent research and development and innovation? Why regard the blockchain, which has just started, as one of the bargaining chips for overtaking in a corner? Because we know that being a Follower (follower) has no future. To be self-improving, you can only be a Leader (leader).

3. Security ceiling

The blockchain is not absolutely immutable, but generally speaking, the cost of tampering is too high, and the cost is too high. A 51% attack is almost impossible for a public chain like BTC.

But on the other hand, a 51% attack is very easy for many new chains with very low market capitalization.

On the side of the alliance chain, due to the absence of market value and the limitations of the node barrel theory, its security is much higher than that of most public chains and distributed databases. It seems to be a good choice.

However, this security has a ceiling. In other words, the security of the alliance chain can never exceed the head public chain.

In the past ten years, the cumulative value of "mining" equipment invested in Bitcoin has reached tens of billions of dollars, plus the accumulated electricity bills invested in these ten years, the so-called "untamperable" of the Bitcoin ledger has been developed so far. So far, tens of billions of dollars of investment have been "doing our best" to guarantee, and with the development of the blockchain, this security will be further strengthened and amplified. In your opinion, which alliance chain dare to say that its own security will be better than that of blockchain? Is the bitcoin that comes out of the real gold and silver pair higher?

So in the end, the use scenarios of the alliance chain can only be those scenarios that "require relatively safe, but do not require absolute security". A public chain reinforced with money.

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The essence of blockchain: trust, production relationship, quantitative and qualitative changes...

There are many sayings about the nature of blockchain:

Some people say that the essence of blockchain is an immutable database.

Some people say that the essence of blockchain is a trustless machine.

Some people say that the essence of the blockchain is a new human production relationship.

The alliance chain, it seems, the data is difficult to tamper with, and the trust has been strengthened. However, this quantitative change seems to be far from the real qualitative change, and there is something missing. This last point often determines its long-term vitality.

You must know that Satoshi Nakamoto has tried many digital currencies before, but in the end they all stopped at the problem of double spending. The method Satoshi Nakamoto came up with is to give a little reward to those who extend the longest chain (those who think they are honest), which is Bitcoin. Blockchain came after Bitcoin.Netbooks of the yearAt that time, notebooks could not balance screen size, thinness, portability, and performance. Therefore, a batch of netbooks with light weight, low performance, and small screen were born, which were sought after by the market.

However, within a few years, with the improvement of technology, mainstream notebooks have become lighter and lighter while taking into account performance and screen size. Finally, netbooks have been slowly squeezed out of the market.

Just imagine, one day, Ethereum or a mainstream public chain with over 10,000 TPS and high enough security, when you can choose such a public chain to realize your business, what reason do you have to choose the alliance chain? You might say what about flexibility and customization? Perhaps by then, when using C